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Session 1
Shenanigans What Time Is It? It is the first of Kythorn in the year 1492 (by Dalereckoning). Early morning, probably, but who can say when you haven't seen the sun for tendays? OK, Set the Stage Velkynvelve, drow outpost. Our heroes(?) are being held as prisoners, along with a motley crew of strangers. Sebastian has been held by the drow for eight days at this point, while the rest of the Young Adventurers have only been there a day or two. The prisoners have had a chance to mingle and learn about each other, leading to Jimjar owing Sebastian 20 gold and Kaia punching Sarith right in his stupid face. Sebastian also discovers that his magic doesn't seem to work when he tries to heal Kaia (who mouthed off to Ilvara, with predictable results). Our heroes have managed to scrounge up a couple of useful items--a gold piece, a metal rod that's pretty good for hitting people, and 5 feet of silk rope. And Then What Happened? The prisoners began to discuss options. None of them really want to end up at a slave market in Menzoberranzan but no plan of escape presents itself. They do discover that Stool can facilitate conversation between everybody and several prisoners know the Underdark well enough to navigate to nearby communities. In particular, Sarith is very knowledgeable and should definitely not be left behind during the escape. Finally, Kaia tells everyone to keep their eyes open for anything that can be used as a makeshift lock pick and the prisoners settle in for the night. That night all the prisoners suffer from terrible dreams, except Sebastian (who has a peaceful rest) and Sarith (who doesn't sleep). Huge tentacles reach out of darkness, crushing crudely built houses. Rotten fungus bursts like suppurating wounds, releasing some dark horror. Mad chittering whispers echo from the darkness, tantalisingly close to making sense. The prisoners are separated and set to different tasks in the morning. Nespip, along with Buppido, Jimjar, and Topsy is set to gutting and cleaning fish--without any tools of any kind. Working through the disgusting task Nespip is able to pocket some fish bones without alerting the guards. Meanwhile Kaia is set to coiling thick heavy rope with Turvy, Sarith, Derendil, and Shuushar. The work is surprisingly strenuous, not helped by the quaggoth guards knocking over completed piles. At one point a quaggoth decides to kick Turvy off the ledge to the spiders below but Turvy is able to avoid falling to his doom, while Kaia watches helplessly. The rest of the prisoners are set to gathering water from the waterfall using buckets on long poles. This goes uneventfully for a time until Sebastian decides to throw the pole he and Ront are operating over the side. Sebastian tries to convince the watching quaggoth that it was an accident, or that Ront did it, or something. Unfortunately there is a language barrier. Ilvara, with her two lieutenants, came by at this time asking what was going on. She has Sebastian beaten at which point Ront speaks up, pointing out that Sebastian is at least not completely useless but they keep Stool around for some damn reason, she should be beating him. Ilvara decides that the spiders need to be fed and it's going to be either Ront or Stool going into the web. She tells them to each stack a separate pile of rocks and whoever finishes last will be fed to the spiders. Ront laughs while Stool panics, frantically trying to move rocks with his feet, obviously incapable of the task set to him. Sebastian speaks up in defense of Stool, although he has a hard time thinking of how Stool may be useful to the drow. Ilvara punishes Sebastian by making him take Stool's place. Luckily Sebastian is able to defeat Ront in the contest and Ront is chained at the back of the prisoner's cave. At the end of the day the prisoners return to the cave. Ront tries to kill Sebastian but is stopped by the other prisoners. Jimjar tries to free the prisoners using the fish bones as makeshift lock picks, but is only able to free Nespip and Ralkor from their manacles. Nespip tries to lure the guards into the cell by showing that he has freed himself but the drow gather some quaggoth guards before replacing the manacles on Nespip. Ralkor manages to conceal that he is no longer bound. The Escape The following morning, while the rest of the prisoners are emptying their chamber pots into the waterfall, two quaggoth drag Ront out of the cell and toss him to the web below. The prisoners watch in horror as two giant spiders approach Ront. Sebastian leaps from the ledge, surprising the guards and everybody else. Only the prisoners who react quickly are able to follow before the quaggoth stop anybody else from jumping. Ultimately, Sebastian, Ront, Nespip, Derendil, Eldeth, Kaia, and Ralkor leap to the webbing and fight the two spiders who approach. With hands bound (except Ralkor) and armed only with an iron bar between them all, it looks grim until Ralkor discovers that whatever was earlier suppressing his magic is no longer affecting him. With his and Sebastian's magic restored the group is able to defeat the spiders. Meanwhile, chaos above as quaggoth send for the drow to finish off the escaping prisoners. Some of the prisoners left behind are able to free themselves and jump down as well, adding Stool, Shuushar, Buppido, and Jimjar to the escape. (DM aside here: I rolled contested grappling checks to escape, expecting one or maybe nobody to make it, and got some crazy good rolls for the prisoners). Topsy, Turvy, and Sarith are either unwilling or unable to join them. Now trapped on webbing perhaps 80 feet above the water they decide to try cutting the webbing and lowering themselves towards the water. Prince Derendil uses his sharp claws to carry out the plan. Most of the party is able to hold on and drop to the water below, though it is still a 30 or 40 foot drop. All are injured by the fall but only Eldeth is knocked unconscious (then later healed by Sebastian). The injured, bedraggled party climbs to the shore when they are attacked. A voice in their mind whispers "Flesh for the faceless lord!" and the slime on the surface of the lake coalesces into an amorphous ooze and attacks. The fight is short as the ooze is quickly beaten into submission. While the slime doesn't seem to injure anybody's hands or skin it does partially dissolve the iron bar being used as a club by Kaia. The Young Adventurers, along with the motley crew of freed prisoners, now must decide where they are going and find some way to survive in the underdark without any equipment or supplies.